[img width=600 height=440]http://logoblink.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/atari-logo.jpg[/img]
Let me ask you something...if you had been the Boss of Atari in the 70s and 80s, what would you have done different, and do you think that it would have saved Atari as a Hardware Developer? Well, here's how I would have handled it...
DISCLAIMER: This entry is meant for humor (maybe...) and friendly discussion of how things could have been. Try not to take it too seriously. Also, if you happened to notice the time that this was posted, give me a break! It's late at night and I'm bored as hell!
Right then...The first thing I would do is give credit to anyone who made a game for my company. Atari was notorious for not giving credit to game designers. In fact, Secret Quest's box says it's by Nolan Bushnell (Founder of Atari), but this is incorrect. It was actually programmed by Steve DeFrisco.
The next thing I would have done is allowed more time for games to be developed. This move would have probably made Pac-Man for the 2600 and E.T. into good, or at least decent games. These were just two of several games that were rushed out to my knowledge.
Third, I would have toned down the marketing attitude somewhat. While it's true that a Console and it's games NEED to be advertised in one way or another, why waste money on marketing entirely? Today, it costs over 1 Million US Dollars for 30 Seconds of Airtime during the Super Bowl. That's 1 Million Dollars that could have gone to funding better technology and games. Perhaps this is a minor point, but I still feel that it's relevant.
Next, I wouldn't have been a dick to my employees. This may sound harsh, but it's true. At one point, an employee called The Czar (Ray Kassar) called every Atari Programmer "High-Strung Prima Donnas". What a jerk! Another guy, Jack Tramiel, fired over 1000 Employees, including the CEO. Why he did this, I don't know, but it still seems rather much to me.
FIVE! Kill the idea of "Adult Games" right away! This clearly caused much controversy, and many problems for Atari. Despite being unlicensed, they still happened. I would have used all manner of means at my disposal to prevent them from appearing on my console.
Number Six! I'd make sure games were actually finished. There were plenty of games that were never finished or released for the 2600. Each one for it's own reasons, but if I start something, I expect to finish it one way or another. More on this idea, I'd have also spent a ton less money on that Swordquest Contest. I've read that Atari used REAL Jewels to make the prizes...WHY?! Who thought that was necessary?!
Problem Seven! The Supercharger! Okay...I like the Supercharger. It's cool, but it's short supported life was stupid, in my honest opinion. I feel that if more time was taken to learn it, and it used something OTHER than Cassette Tapes, it might have done so much better. I know options for media were limited back then, but I feel that, given enough time, CDs could have been officially utilized with it.
NUMBER NINE--(Coughs loudly)--...5200 Controllers! These things are pretty junky unless rebuilt. Also, the Number Pad is too much. I'd lose it. I could think of at least a couple ways that the Number Pad could have been made obsolete, but that's a minor issue. The big issue is the build quality of these devices. They're Prototypes were built so much better, and received favorable reception. So why then did Atari change them? I would have actually listened to the customer, and kept it the way it was.
Last, but not least...The Epilogue! Perhaps all this is very much easier said than done, but that certainly doesn't mean it's impossible. I feel that if these steps and more were taken, Atari could still be the Giant that it was back in the 80s today. Still, I could be wrong. Perhaps they were doomed from the start, I don't know. As the Tootsie-Pop Commercials say..."The World may never know."
Well, that's all for now. What are some steps that you would have taken in this matter?
|
Point One: Whaaaat?! Give developers credit for their work?! What kind of commie bullsh*t is that?! They didn't shell out the big bucks to establish the company and build its infrastructure! They should be happy to have a job, and not leech off the taxpayers with food stamps and subsidized housing! There's your credit right there! Why don't you go back to the Soviet Union where you belong, pinko!
Point Four: But how are the higher-ups gonna get the peons-- errr I mean employees motivated enough to slave away nonstop and completely dedicate themselves to work if they're not constantly reminded that they'll be dropped like a bad habit if they even so much as think of falling out of line? Keeping the plebes-- errrr, I mean employees under constant stress builds character, you know. And the fights that result when someone inevitably snaps from the overwhelming pressure is a real hoot to watch... from a safe distance of course. And if they do get laid off--well, it's their own damn fault for not coming up with products that were profitable enough to keep them on the payroll. Can't let 'em think they're actually an important part of the company, or else they'll get all full of themselves and uppity. That's when the terrorists win, you know.
Point Seven: But they HAD to come up with something to compete with Commodore 64's elite line of datassette games! There's no greater joy than waiting ten minutes for a game to load, getting a "game load failed, retry" screen, rewinding the tape, pressing play, and waiting another ten minutes until the danged thing is finally ready to go. I'd demonstrate the deal to people who complain about the load times on their beloved digital-disc consoles to get them to stop their bitching about their games taking too long to load. You know NOTHING about long load times, you whiny little ingrates. Just STFU already.
Point Eight: there is no Point Eight...
Point Nine: ...but there is a Point Nine. Which I'll not elaborate on, since I haven't yet encountered a 5200 system or controller in person, and there fore have no direct knowledge of the product's quality (or lack thereof).
But what's this "listening to the customers" nonsense? God, you just don't get it, do you? The customers are gonna take what we give 'em, and they're gonna LIKE it! You want choices? Then go order a freakin' pizza... at Chuck E. Cheese's, which is another Nolan Bushnell abomination-- errr, I mean, creation. Ah, Nolan Bushnell, AKA the most amazing being to ever walk the earth. Now THERE's a guy who knew how to run a business and treat his employees the way they deserved to be treated. And none of this long-haired tree-hugging hippie talk about "treating workers with dignity and kindness," or "giving credit where it's due," or "listening to the customers" crap. It's that kind of mentality-- heavily promoted by the gay-Zionist-Illuminati-Trilateral-Freemason-Bilderberger-New-World-order conspiracists, by the way-- that's ruining American business. Is it any wonder China's got us over a barrel at this point?
Oops, I gotta go now; Alex Jones just came back from a commercial break.
- 'Late
|
|
Oh, so much to think about. If I had been Bushnell's boss I would never had let the early ideology of Atari die out. It blows my mind to think that Bushnell wanted to push ahead with another home system within the first year the VCS was out. Think about how that would have changed things. It would have (likely) set the first crash earlier, but it could have also went a long way to cementing the love of video games into our culture very early, not just gluing it on.
|
|
Realize that the market was getting oversaturated and instead of releasing an endless stream of new stuff hoping that customers would buy MY product and not the other companies product quit while i was ahead.
|
